Show Rudy The Money

Clara Short has trouble saying "Giuliani." But the 93-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., retiree has no trouble articulating why she sent $500 to the New York City mayor's U.S. Senate campaign: "I'll do anything to defeat that what's-her-name, that Hillary."

Rudolph Giuliani is quick to brag about his crime-fighting, tax-cutting, welfare-reducing record as mayor. But his most powerful out-of-state fund-raising weapon may be the visceral dislike some people feel toward the first lady.

A random telephone sampling of some of Giuliani's donors produced similar refrains:

"I detest her" said Gerald Armstrong of Eagan, Minn., who gave $500.

"She's a pathological liar," said James Cunningham, of Shreveport, La., a $50 donor.

"We think Hillary Clinton is a sleazeball," said Patricia Johnson, of North Falmouth, Mass., whose husband donated $250.

"I just hate Hillary, plain and simple," said Louis Kreditor of Dallas, who contributed $100.

The Giuliani camp targeted just such donors with fund-raising letters stocked with inflammatory references to Clinton, calling her "the darling of the left-wing elite," among other things.

Such mailings have been wildly successful. The mayor's aides estimate 40 percent of the $11.5 million he has raised has come from his direct-mail drives. Many donors are from outside New York.

The Giuliani campaign said 90,000 donors gave an average of $110; 63 percent gave $100 or less.

Mrs. Clinton also has raised much of her $8 million from outside her newly adopted home state, but she has so far received larger donations from fewer donors.

Many Senate races attract large numbers of out-of-state donors. But Herbert Alexander, a University of Southern California political science professor, said the level of vitriol in New York encourages outsiders to get involved.

"The difference I see in New York is that it's so personal. The people that dislike the first lady really hate her and they are more than willing to cross state lines to beat her," Alexander said.

Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff said both Giuliani and Clinton are polarizing figures who earn high negative ratings in polls Clinton 41 percent and Giuliani 35 percent.

"But this race has been all about Hillary so far," he said. "Hillary supporters are pro-Hillary ... and Giuliani supporters are anti-Hillary."

Most Giuliani donors contacted say they know his record as mayor generally, but are vague about his positions on issues.

"He's a conservative, right?" asked Short, who described herself as one.

With his support of abortion rights, gay rights and gun control measures, Giuliani is considered an unabashed moderate.